


Tank

by Majtholdt



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Merman!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-30
Updated: 2014-08-30
Packaged: 2018-02-15 03:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2214075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majtholdt/pseuds/Majtholdt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean's hobbies are floating and being apathetic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tank

I'm floating.

The machine that keeps my water rich in oxygen should kick awake any minute.

It's dead silent in the aquarium.

If I had enough of a reason to turn around, I'm sure I'd see Eren circling restlessly around his coral on the other side of the glass panel. His side of it is so bright and colorful it hurts my eyes. I'd rather just stare at the muddy bottom of my own tank.

There are some crabs there that were thrown here to test if I'd eat them. Not sure why they thought that, as I get already killed food two times a day. We don't like needless killing where I'm from.

The other tank next to mine is empty. I like being close to the glass separating it from me, as the cliff that the empty space creates reminds me of my home. Sometimes we climbed to the top of the waterfall using humans' paths, but that was only when we knew there wouldn't be many cars around. The fall from the top was exhilarating and dangerous. There were many fish nets close to the coastline that the currents would take you to if you weren't careful.

I roll over slowly. The air is making my tail itch if I keep one part of it above the surface longer than the rest. I feel the pull of scar tissue on my shoulder as I turn.

The machinery makes a roaring sound that used to remind me of the sound of my waterfall. Now it's just what it is. Now I'd probably say that the waterfall reminds me of the machine. In the end it doesn't matter, as they don't share anything else other than the noise they make.

\- - -

There isn't really day and night in the aquarium. We have lights on always. Eren is used to it. So am I.

The floating is making me feel sick. Regardless, I don't care enough to turn myself upright.

I burp some bubbles.

The air is not supposed to stay in your body for that long, but my head down position is making them store somewhere. It was six hours ago when I last popped my head above the water. The air had been in my body for six hours.

That's not very long. I'd say I've been in this tank for... maybe eight years? That's a lot more than six hours.

Eren splashes the surface and I know that Mikasa has come to swim with him. She tried that with me too, one time. I was so excited that I almost drowned her. After that she always kept to the side of the tank in her next tries, but I didn't feel like going near her anymore.

That was three years ago.

The machine kicks in again. After a few minutes it quiets, and I know Mikasa went to shut it so that it wouldn't bother her and Eren.

I trail my fingers on my hip, over the tell tale chequered scars adorning my body in several places.

I turn my body in the water and break the surface soundly. I've gotten used to not being able to get off the water completely. After that one time that I made a mess on the feeding deck, they put up a fence to keep me from hoisting myself on it.

That was six years ago.

\- - -

One morning – or evening or whatever – they start filling up the empty tank.

The smell of salt water wafts over my tank. It's not as strong as it's on Eren's side, but compared to my lake water, it's very salty. I dive to avoid breathing in the small water drops that bounce to my side. I know that salty stuff makes me sick. Someone accidentally gave me Eren's food once, and after the first bite I knew I couldn't eat it. The crabs ate it and I was left without food that time. I'm not sure if anyone even noticed it.

I can hear Mikasa and Nile talking.

”I think he's anadromous? The speckles on his upper tail make me think he's originally from southern parts of Norway and his ears are quite small...”

Ok yeah, I'm not going to be able to keep up with that. I can speak English just fine, as I am from an area where that was the language that the humans spoke, but I've not spoken it with these people. They probably think I'm mute. Even Eren chats with Mikasa without a problem.

I swim close to the glass and press my nose against it. The water is spinning around rapidly and creating small vortexes as the tank is being filled. There's nothing but water in it at the moment. When Eren came they had to add the corals slowly and let them be for a few months before he could be even let in there. I wonder if it will be the same this time.

When the tank is filled and the water has stilled, Mikasa and some others start dumping clear sand in it. It makes the water dark as the sand slowly makes its way closer to the bottom. I back off a bit. It doesn't remind me of my waterfall anymore.  
I make my way closer to Eren's side, but when I see him pressed against the glass and peering through my tank to see what's happening, I stop and stay at the bottom. One of the crabs comes to poke at me and I kick it away, making the mud of the bottom rise and make the water murky.

I keep hiding at the bottom as the sand settles in the new tank, and the two tanks surrounding mine immediately lighten my dark lake water. It feels nothing like the real thing.

\- - -

After 10 hours I swim to the surface to breathe some air. The oxygen in the water isn't rich enough anymore. The machine should have started ages ago, but as I look at the new tank I see that they've stopped working on it for now, and the pump is only partially attached. That's probably why they can't put the machine on.

Well, thanks for that. Now I can't sleep.

Eren is sleeping on his rock that's protruding from the water. He used to have those where he came from. I didn't so I obviously don't need one.

I guess they don't count all those docks and boats that we used to play on. They wouldn't have been there if it weren't for the humans so they're not part of my 'natural environment'.

As if this tank that's bombed with bright light from everywhere is somehow closer to one.

\- - -

I end up clinging to the fence and trying to sleep with my head above the surface. I doze off a few times, but awake immediately when I begin to slip. In the end I just give up and start swimming around the tank slowly.

After a few hours Mikasa comes in and attaches the pump. Finally.

”Jean.”

I whip my head to look at her. She's in the tank and talks to me through the glass. I don't know how I even heard her through it and the machine's hum. She smiles a bit. She startled me to look at her, and I'm too embarrassed to hear out what she has to say. So I dive.

I always try to not react when someone tries to talk to me. It's kind of my hobby. To be apathetic. If they keep me like an animal they may as well treat me like one.

That's when I hear the splash and see from the corner of my eye as something dark dashes through the other tank. I turn around and stare at the boy that swims straight to the glass. The thunk resonates through the water.

Nile curses and Mikasa hops away from the water. The boy looks panicked and presses against the invisible wall. I stare at him wide eyed.

He can't be many years older than me. He is however a lot buffer and strong looking than me. And he clearly hasn't been in a tank before.

”Marco, calm the fuck down!”

I recognise that voice. I turn to look and see a black haired man marching angrily on the feeding deck. He's a marine biologist. Loves to save my kind that have been tangled in the fishing nets.

He was the one that dumped me here.

Levi clicks his tongue and watches as Marco tries to leave and just ends up hitting his head against the unyielding glass wall.

”We need to sedate him again if he doesn't calm down.”

Yeah, how about no.

I swim closer to the dark haired guy and notice that his body is full of little spots. His ears are shorter than mine but longer than Eren's. And his tail is huge.

He doesn't notice me at first, but when he does we both freeze. At least he stopped banging his head against the glass. His forehead is bright red already.

I slowly swim closer and press my hand against the glass to show him that he can't get through it. I would have left years ago if I could, and I hope he understands that.

I don't know what I thought would happen, but it wasn't him pressing his palm against the glass, mirroring my hand. We keep staring at each other.

His eyes are brown, and his skin a bit darker than mine. I'm not sure if it's because he has seen more sun than me or if his skin color is like that. Kind of like Eren's.

”Marco! Come up here so we can talk!”, Levi barks. His voice can barely be heard underwater, but Marco immediately snaps to look up to the feeding deck. I peel my palm off the glass and back away.

When he turns to look at me he looks a bit disappointed that I'm farther away. I turn around and surface on the other side of the tank, close to Eren's. I throw a look at Levi, before I turn to my side and start floating.

”Listen, Marco. I know this is a shithole of a place, but until you get better you need to stay here. We will return you to the ocean in a few months.”

Lucky one. I was so young and my wounds serious that they couldn't kick me out. Not sure why they didn't do it later on.

”Who's that?”

Marco's voice is heavily accented, but still very clear. He speaks softer than Eren. I can't really hear him properly underwater.

Oh. He's asking about me.

”That's Jean. He's a mute brat who likes to break havoc whatever he does.”

Well excuse me.

”Oh.”

I snort. Some bubbles make their way up and pop on the surface. Levi keeps blabbing something and Mikasa butts in a few times, but I just close my eyes and fall asleep in the finally oxygenated water.

\- - -

When I wake up Marco is swimming around his tank nervously. There's no sign of Levi, Mikasa or Nile. Eren is sleeping again.

I open my eyes but keep still. Marco swims three laps before he looks straight at me a notices I'm awake. He smiles.

I feel like smiling too. Shit. In the end I just blink slowly and right myself with precise movements. Bubbles stream from my nostrils.

He swims to the glass and presses his hands against it. I feel a bit silly, but I approach him and, in the end, settle my palms against his. I see his mouth move, but the glass and water make it impossible to hear. I shake my head.

I hear a door opening in the aquarium and pull my hand away. It leaves a handprint on my my side because the glass in muddy from the lake water. Marco looks at me, frowning, as I swim to the surface.

”Eren, wake up”, Mikasa says as she puts on her flippers. Eren just mumbles something and keeps on sleeping. Mikasa calls his name a few times before giving up. She walks on the bridge that goes above all the tanks and heads towards Marco's tank. She falters a bit when she sees me watching.

I immediately dive.

In a moment Mikasa is inside on Marco's tank, and he swims around her and laughs at something she says.

I turn around and start floating again.

\- - -

”Jean!”

I turn around slowly and throw Marco a mean look. Can't even nap in peace nowadays.

He has been here for over a week now. I've been humoring him and his overly happy personality this whole time. But only when Eren sleeps and the others are away.

”Jean, could you draw on the glass again?”

Oh, geez. Marco was so sad when he realised he couldn't draw on the glass because his tank was so clean. We made a game where he 'drew' on the glass and I tried to keep up with him with my own finger. In the end the pictures were pretty much his.

I still haven't spoken to him. He doesn't seem to mind. Well, that's obvious, Levi said that I'm mute. Even though I'm not.

I've started to feel a bit of anxiety because of it. Usually I just decide not to speak and am quiet on my own accord, but now I actually feel like kind of wanting to talk with Marco. He's not easily angered like Eren. He's a lot more open than anyone I've met. He's just so straight out weirdly talkative and happy.

”Jean?”

I hum and dive underwater. Marco goes down after me and we press our palms against each other's. Except that the glass in separating us. This time Marco doesn't move straight away. We stare at eachother for a long while, before he makes me draw crisscross. Then he points at my shoulder, where the scars are the most prominent.

I draw a fish in the middle of the pattern I just created. He just nods and we continue drawing.

\- - -

”Jean, why are you mute?”

”I- I'm not.”

\- - -

I haven't floated in several weeks.

We are just about to finish a drawing of some kind of giant fish, when Nile and Levi barge in. They're yelling at each other and I immediately dash away from the glass.

”That is the last thing we need! Just sue them right away so they don't even get the chance to get here.”

”Are you a fucking idiot? We can't do that until they've actually done something. It could be just empty talk.”

”Or they could be serious and get in and cause havoc in here. Eren and Jean are not capable of being released yet, probably never. If they decide to do something, the most likely can't fight back.”

”And at the moment there is absolutely nothing we can do but wait.”

”Double the security.”

”We can't.”

Levi makes an annoyed noise in his throat and walks to Marco's tank.

”Hey, Marco. How is your tail feeling today?”

Marco surfaces but doesn't smile.

”It's fine. Still a bit tingly and doesn't like to be over exercised, but doesn't really hurt anymore.”

Levi's nodding halfway through Marco's speech.

”Yeah, that's good. We should be able to release you when we planned.”

When Levi and Nile leave, still bickering amongst themselves, I don't go back to Marco even when he calls for me.

I start floating again.

\- - -

Some weeks after the episode with Levi and Nile, someone breaks into the aquarium.

They've dressed in black and covered their faces. They make their way by walking on the glass that separate the tanks. They do that for about fifteen minutes, sometimes crouching and doing something and then keeping on going.

Then they break the glass and the whole building goes black.

I'm not sure what happens, but it was Eren's side that breaks first. The glass panels that shatter are so heavy that they just fall to the bottom straight away. Salt water mixes with mine.

Then Marco's side goes down and all the salt makes me feel like throwing up. I try to climb the fence on the feeding deck to get away from it, but it's too high. The water burns my skin. I can't see anything.

”Jean!”

Marco has crossed the broken glass wall and takes a hold of my arm. He's shaking but not as badly as I am.

”Are you okay?” he whispers and pulls me closer. I whine a bit as the pressure of his hold makes the salt hurt more.

”It's salt water and it hurts my skin”, I babble and try to keep as much of myself above water as I can. Marco's trying to keep hold of me but I'm twitching every time his touch makes me hurt. I'm starting to panic.

”Jean, Jean, listen to me Jean. You can come to my feeding deck. It's over here, just let me help you there.”

Marco swims backwards and pulls me after him. My eyes are slowly adjusting to the darkness but Marco moves like the lights were still on.

I feel it when we cross the broken glass, because the amount of salt in the water doubles. I'm screaming internally when we reach the feeding deck and Marco helps me lift myself on it.

I'm still wet so the stabbing pain doesn't stop. I try to wipe the water off but it just hurts more. Marco hoists himself up and next to me.

”When it dries the salt mostly peels off. Just hang in there.”

He looks like he wants to hug me, but my shivering and painful state keeps him rooted to his spot.

I stretch my arm to him and offer to press my palm against his.

”It's already as fucked up as it can get thanks to the climbing”, I mumble. Marco gently puts his hand against mine.

I twine our fingers and close my eyes.

\- - -

When Mikasa comes in the next morning, only her silence tells us how bad it's looking. Eren came to ask how we were at one point, but he quickly returned to his rock. The amount of salt in the water was too little for him, and he couldn't breathe underwater because the water didn't want to be pushed out his lungs. He almost suffocated before he realised this.

It takes fifteen minutes for Levi to come in with a flashlight. He runs to me and Marco and yells at Mikasa to get him some fresh water. They rub my tail while they hose it, and I slowly wash my face and upper body. Everything hurts and my tail has lost some of its sky blue color, whereas my skin had turned pink. One of my nails falls off and I lose some hair.

The tanks are now unusable, so we're transferred to smaller ones. My arms and tail are still weak as I'm lifted and carried to the tank. I settle on the bottom and get ready to doze off, but then someone hops in.

Marco swims to me and carefully takes my hand and twines our fingers. I stare at him, wide eyed. The water is not salty. Won't he drown in here?

Marco smiles and mouths 'I'm fine' before tugging me closer and hugging me with his face buried in my hair. I place one of my arms on his waist before sighing out the bubbles in my body. He seems fine. I can feel his breathing from this position, and it's deep and calm.

Levi and Nile are discussing something near us, but I'm too tired to register anything else than Marco's warmth before I fall asleep.

\- - -

It takes days before the pinkish hue from my skin disappears. I've mostly just slept, eaten and cuddled with Marco. He can't seem to keep his hands off me, but I guess I'm no better. He talks to me about the place where he's from. About the fjords. He was born in freshwater but has lived most of his life in the ocean. He has no problem with pretty much any amount of salt. Lucky bastard.

In return I tell him about the place where I'm from. Two lakes, attached to each other by a river and a waterfall. It was in the middle of a city. I tell him about how me and my friends used to jump the waterfall. The last time I did that it didn't end well, and I chuckle at what a stupid little child I was.

Marco hurt his tail when he saved a kid from getting run over by a tourist ship. He himself wasn't sure how the currents that threw him around could cause so much damage, but he had barely gotten to the coastline before he would have sank to the bottom.

Then Levi reminds us that Marco would leave in three weeks.

I would have floated after that if strong arms hadn't kept me safely tucked against Marco's chest.

\- - -

”I don't understand what you see in that ball of trouble, Marco. Plus he's mute.”

I snort at Eren when he says this. He still hasn't noticed.

Marco just smiles and keeps poking at my hair. He likes my hair when it's pretty short, so he's cutting it with his nails. Don't ask how. His nails are weird.

”There's a lot about him that you don't know about, Eren”, Marco hums and ruffles my hair.

Eren looks doubtful. ”Like what?” he asks.

”Like that I'm not actually mute”, I murmur and close my eyes when Marco hugs me from behind. His tail's resting heavily against mine.

I open my other eye to see Eren gaping at me. Five years of not talking to you neighbor does that, I guess.

\- - -

They want to keep Marco in salt water, so that he can get used more easily to the area he will be freed on. The problem is that he doesn't want to stop sharing the fresh water tank, even when Levi is disgruntled enough to raise his voice at him. I just pretend I'm not there as they argue over the glass wall.

These tanks have low walls and we could jump over them if we want to. Of course the tiles of the floor wouldn't be the most comfortable thing to land on, and we have no real reason to do something like that. It's just something I notice.

In the end Levi let's Marco stay with me until a week before his release. Then he has to wrestle the Norwegian merman out by force. I'd try to help Marco if I didn't have so much respect towards Levi, who is just looking after him.

I decide not to float until Marco leaves, so that he doesn't feel so bad.

\- - -

I'm sleeping when Marco leaves. We'd been talking almost nonstop over the higher double glass that separated us for the last week, only napping every once in awhile. I was most likely so sleep deprived that I didn't wake up when he was transferred to a moving tank.

After the initial panic of being alone with Eren again, I start swimming around and dragging my palm against the glass. The tank is too clean for it to leave any marks. It does however reflect my hand, so that it looks like someone else is dragging their hands against it on the other side.

Eren says I'm a nutjob.

I don't answer him.

\- - -

”Jean you need to eat.”

I know that.

”The bigger tanks are almost fully repaired, you'll get more space soon.”

Yay.

”Eren says you talk.”

I do.

\- - -

I don't.

\- - -

When we're transferred back to the bigger tanks, Levi checks over my scars and range of movement. I see him glancing at my protruding ribs every once in awhile.

\- - -

I'm not sure what exactly happens about three months after returning back to the bigger tank.

The water in my tank starts to move more than normally. I have to swim against the current to keep put. Floating is impossible if I don't want to go around and around in the tank.

At first it's annoying, but I get used to it. Swimming in place stops slowly being a chore.

My range of movement grows.

\- - -

Levi looks pissed again when he hops on my feeding deck and cuts the wires that keep the fence up. It falls into the water before he can grab it.

“Jean, throw the fence up here would you?”

I’m on the other side of the tank at the moment, but by taking the right current I can reach the heavy metallic grill wall before it reaches the bottom. When I drag it back to the frowning man, he looks at me weirdly.

“You know, that kind of cooperativeness would have taken you far few years ago.”

I almost throw a snarky reply at him, but in the end just snort and lift the fence on the platform. He takes it with him when he leaves.

I don’t dare to lift myself on the deck before the aquarium has been silent for few hours.

\- - -

“Oh my god, he’s so beautiful!”

A person with glasses and greasy hair on a ponytail is jumping up and down next to my tank. Levi is signing some papers and muttering to himself as the other person presses against the glass. I throw some suspicious looks at them and stay away from that wall.

“Calm down. You’ve seen many like him before”, Levi sighs and pockets his pen.

“No I haven’t! He’s a lot paler than anyone I’ve seen before.”

“That’s because he hasn’t seen real sun is nine years. Just take the papers and get the doctor.”

“Hello, Jean! Aren’t you excited?”

“Hanji, please.”

After the weird person skips away, Levi beckons me closer. I rest my arms against the steps of the feeding deck and raise an eyebrow.

“Let’s just call this a birthday gift for all those birthdays you missed in here.”

It’s not like birthdays are a big deal with mermen, but okay.

“We’re getting you out of here. The manager wasn’t very excited because your cam is one of the ones that gets the most donations- erm, you don’t know about those, so that’s unimportant.”

Wait.

“You’re going to be released to a nice lake in a conservation area. That’s how we can keep an eye on you if something happens.”

Wait.

“What?”

\- - -

The move is ridiculous.

The crate I’m in is small and hot and does not feel nice in any way.

Of course it had to be a plane ride. Nothing close to the aquarium would have been good enough for Levi. It just had to be just about on the other side of the planet. At least it feels like it.

I don’t know where I am when we land, but it’s not as hot anymore and my tail has fallen asleep. All of it.

Levi throws me a water bottle from the hole on the ceiling and says to buckle up because it’s going to be a bumpy ride. I’m not sure how I’m going to ‘buckle up’ inside of this ridiculous box, and end up throwing the bottle after him. Hanji delivers it back to me and attaches my crate against the wall of the pickup.

I guess I’m buckled up now.

It sure doesn’t feel like it when the car starts and rattles the whole box, as we start our next part of the journey.

\- - -

“You couldn’t choose a place that was any farther away from the aquarium, could you?”

“Ah, so it does speak.”

\- - -

When we’re finally there, my crate is carried next to a pond.

A pond.

Are they kidding me.

“It’s almost night, there’s no way we’re letting you into the lake when the sun is going down.”

Thanks, Levi.

The water is murky and cold and dirty, but it feels more like home than the tank water ever did.

The canned fish I get to eat however, does not.

\- - -

When I finally get to go to the lake, it feels like Hanji is vibrating. And feeling that from ten meters distance tells quite a lot about about how bad it is.

The lake is a lot clearer than the pond, and the water at the shore is surprisingly warm. The pond is almost always in the shadows so it doesn’t really get warm ever.

I splash the water a few times with my tail, laugh bemusedly and dive.

I’m surprised by the eye pair that meets mine underwater.

\- - -

“Weren't you going to be released in the sea!?”

“I thought so too until they brought me here!”

“I’m going to strangle you. Gently.”

"I'm innocent, strangle Levi!"

\- - -

In the end I don't strangle anyone.


End file.
